Final score: Drake 64 Bradley 57

[BengalFan14]

Ok my turn/take/rant............

Specifically, Vs Drake

1. We ABSOLUTELY let them impose their will, did not match their intensity or physicality AT ALL....very disappointing
2. Strategy wise.......Zone, Zone, Zone.....we saw it early then just abandoned until late in the game. No need to chase them for 25 seconds just for the man to man to breakdown in the final 5 seconds....sit in the zone and let them stand there. I would zone them EVERY possession, but when we do zone, we treat every player equal which we should not be doing..we get overextended, and either give up a back door layup (against the zone no less) or let the wrong guy shoot. There are at least 2 guys on the floor for Drake at all times that I would absolutely let/invite shoot the ball from beyond 16 feet, whether its a 2 or a 3...but even when we are in zone we jump at these players and close out on them like they are Larry Bird and they get by the first line of defense on the zone and we breakdown or foul.. The point of the zone is to make them shoot from the outside...not to run at them like they are shooters...or you wouldnt be in the zone if they were. Again last night Mascari hit 4 3's....nobody else made any....LET THEM SHOOT....they are not good from there and they know it...they don't want to play that way.....we should make them beat us doing what they don't want to do.
3. We did a great job the first 10 minutes of taking their pick and roll away...then after their 2nd timeout, instead of the picker rolling down the middle they started rolling to the back side of the play....Drake would make a pass of the screen to the wing, we would shift, then they would lob the pass over the top to the back roller, or make a sharp cross court pass to him as he was left unguarded on that back side roll....they must have run that 10 times before we picked it up....then when we did cover it...it was usually banks that would then have a smaller guy on him and they smartly would reverse the ball, have him seal that defender and a simple hi low pass for a layup.....They made adjustments all game to keep getting to the basket off of motion....need to play zone against them with specific shading to make certain guys shoot and take that motion away...if they beat us from 3 (something they havn't done or want to do all season, then so be it)...just don't let them beat you doing what they want.
4. Offensively.....Hannah was 5-7 from the floor....he should have 15 shots or better...just walk to the post turn around and get a pass...we make that simple thing so hard its amazing....we spend 15 seconds trying to get our 5 man the ball at the top of the key for what?....They aren't tremendous passers, we fumble the ball out there doing that constantly...and have nobody in position for offensive rebounding because the big guys are 20 feet from the bucket. We were bigger than Drake and didn't even look to exploit it....when we did it worked but not nearly enough
5. Fouls Fouls Fouls.....again we send a team to the line 28 times..unreal..they made 18...that is 9 2pt shots, or 6 3's they would have to make if we just made them shoot from the outside....we have to find a way to not send the opposing team to the line 30 times...3 out of the last four games we have done that....that is incredible
6. Tavion Banks...6'7" 200lbs, and we made him look like Moses Malone last night.....unreal

What Happened?

1. What has happened in the last 4 games from the team we saw earlier in the season? Almar has gone to almost a non factor since he was moved out of the starting lineup...I don't see the advantage to him coming off the bench...I'm not a fan of Thomas and Darius together on the floor...we aren't as potent offensively and we are not seeing the benefit rebounding wise to having both of them out there...
2. Where is Meta???....he has gone from about 10-15 min a game to zero???...and we were winning!.....he needs to play some every game as sometimes he can be a game changer...he frees up Duke better on the high ball screen, and wears people down with his size...it's not like he was costing us games and needed to go to the bench...I don't get it
3. Linke, I'm sorry guys, but he should not be getting minutes...especially over Meta. There is not one thing he does better than Meta. He is a complete liability on the offensive end, he does not get rebounds, is not a good passer, and looked lost defensively last night. I believe he had 0pts, 0 rebounds, and 0 assists in his time last night.
4. Also in Myrtle Beach, we posted up WAY MORE than we are now...Darius, Almar, Meta, Zek....we put them in the post and worked out of it...we aren't doing any of that now....it is constant high ball screen, or handing off to the center and the top of the key then running around while he holds it and finally gives it back to Duke, who then just gets double teamed off the hand off...lol its infuriating

Moving Forward

1. We have to change some things offensively....teams are taking away our high ball screen completely, just absolutely flooding the ball handler with a double team...and covering the roller with a corner defender....Duke has a tough time with his height making that pass to the corner out of that double team
2. I don't know why we don't run more specific sets for shooters...Davis, Almar, Dillon, Duke (when he's not the primary ball handler) are all deadly when they get a clean look...we are so ball screen dominant or run off the big with the ball at the top of the key our secondary players have resorted to just standing there watching that...no off the ball movement...run some staggered screens or something to get them open without the ball
3. POST UP....have to establish a post game...we have ZERO right now
4. We have to either ...find a way to get to the foul line, OR, stop putting the other team at the line 30 times a game....that is killing us
5. We are soft, and teams know it.....we gotta figure that out....
6. Careless Turnovers...half of them come just trying to get the 5 man the ball at the top of the key...have to cut them down

Ok Im coming down from the ledge now

This is a great breakdown - and totally accurate. Thank you.

[LittleBrave]

All I can say is I. can't stand DRAKE. One team I never liked in the Valley and absolutely don't after losing to them 5 str8 now.
It's almost like how the Bears hate the Packers but rarely beat them. Drake seems to have their way over BU for like 15 years now.
Just pissed.

[LittleBrave]

Drake definitely plays a style that makes your grind for every basket, and they can frustrate you. They are going to be very tough to beat for 1st place with their style of play and I think they're good enough, and now after beating BU, they may just get the sweep.

Let's get back to winning ways and get tough. We are capable of rattling off a few wins in a row here, which is what we need to get the mojo back. We haven't looked very good the last 3 games, especially with offensive flow and again, stupid turnovers.